“We’ve finally found it,” Inquisitor called out to the rest of us, as if it wasn’t obvious. His confident tone was filled with a slight bit of sarcasm, seeing how it wasn’t us but moreso Rainlet--a short woman clad in blue, drapey robes currently hiding to the back of our group--who had found this Heart’s Manifestation.

I didn’t reply. Instead, I readied myself, drew fully upon my will and ten identical, cruciform longswords apparated from thin air--the steel coalescing from dust into solid, well-made weapons. The faint, red, ambient light all around us, glinting off the marvellous, specular metal, only served to exemplify the beauty of such weapons.

Teams like ours were small but specialised--they were generally typified by four components; a scanner, a striker, a shield, and a controller. They were minimal in size, at a minimum of four, in order to enable a quick response.

“Remember, it’s an intermediate level of strength; stay back Wanderlust, Rainlet,” in this large, hall, even my voice sounding booming, echoing out from behind my mask.

By now, the Manifestation had taken notice of us; a hulking, rippling monster of a red wolf by appearance. Spikes spotted its surface everywhere but the legs were large, powerful-looking--the sort that could break your bones or kill you with just a kick.

By Manifestations’ standards, it’s wasn’t categorically large, but for a wolf, it was huge--a staggering 10 feet tall. On every inch of its body where there should’ve been fur, horn-like spikes protruded.

Without any audible declaration of attack, it began sprinting forwards at a brisk speed. The hall was large, yes, but it was still a museum--it would reach us in only a matter of time. It barreled through a dinosaur skeleton on display, throwing bones everywhere.

Reacting quickly, the two women cleared far away, sequestering themselves far away from this monster while Inquisitor merely backed away, close enough he could watch my movements accurately.

The ten swords that were previously circling me like a revolving wall reorientated themselves, pointing directly at the target. Without any need to precisely target them, with a mere thought of impulse, they exploded off with such a speed you could miss them within the blink of an eye.

Eight of them stabbed right into the wolf’s legs, two on each, and slicing horizontally, trying to bisect each leg. They may look worldly but the material certainly isn’t.

With such a monstrous, massive body, it carried with it substantial momentum. Before I could even ascertain the effectiveness of the attack, I pulled my swords back towards me, arranging them in a sloping line upwards.

Without missing a beat, I used these floating stairs to run up and over the wolf as it came sliding uncontrollable towards me, the floor heavily damaged in its wake.

At the apex of these stairs, I dropped, my cloak billowing in the steam rising from the wolf’s body. All but two swords darted downwards, finding the tiny spaces between the spikes and thrusting in, stabbing the wolf and most likely vital organs inside its body.

As it began to get back to its feet, it’s body being racked with intense, incredibly pain many times-over as my blades repeatedly dug in, drawing large spurts of blood, I rotated the swords; digging deeper and tearing at the flesh. I carved one spike out before the wolf turned back towards me, standing emotionlessly in the air.

Its eyes, full of hatred and malice and pure, animalistic savagery, bored down into mine behind the mask. Even with all the pain it must’ve been feeling, it’s face remained contorted in such a way.

As if in defiance, the swords that were still raking it’s flesh, skewering it like a piece of meat, were forcefully expunged from the body, the wounds stitching together as threads of flesh formed into blank expanses of skin.

My swords languished in the air for a moment before I caught my senses, my form still imposing. However, as soon as I planned to launch my swords back in, it turned its head and charged, without any sort of telegraph, right at Inquisitor.

However, unlike me who escaped to the sky to avoid the charge, he stayed stalwart, arms crossed in useless intimidation. The wolf seemed unperturbed and, when it was within a metre of him, opened its mouth--its gaping, toothy maw resembling more a shark than any lupine creature--and crunched down on nothing but air.

From right behind the monster appeared Inquisitor, his forehead beading with sweat but arms still crossed.

“That was cutting it close,” I called down to him, making my way to the ground.

“Indeed it was,” He wiped his forehead in an exaggerated motion.

Unexpectedly, however, the wolf didn’t turn back around towards us but rather--after shaking its head to observe what had happened in confusion--stared straight ahead. Shit.

A different tactic this time. I sent all ten of my blades flying towards the left hind foot, the damage from earlier completely healed. As they began to cut into the flesh, I took a quick glance at Inquisitor before beginning to run around its side.

It took one step forwards before throwing its head violently to the side, making clear and eye contact with me. I stared straight into those soulless, fiery eyes before coming to a standstill, perpendicular from it.

Clearly, having caught its aggression, it turned around, somehow ignoring the ten swords ripping chunks out of its flesh by the second. Even from here, I could see the sinew patching itself up, the reddish-pinkish flesh only being exposed to the air for seconds at a time.

As its nostrils bristled and it hunched down, ready for another charge, I detached one sword from the unit and sent it flying behind it, out of sight. It didn’t seem to notice the change in the onslaught.

Unhesitatingly, its feet rocketed off the ground with tremendous speed, cracks and breakages forming from underneath. I could barely manage to throw a glance over to Inquisitor before pulling nine swords towards me and arranging them side by side like a defensive wall. At will, their forms shifted, crossguards melting into the metal, until they were the right shape to become flush with each other, blocking the monster from my sight.

That is, until the beast crashed right into them, the wall bending in the centre as I doubled over in pain, collapsing to my knees. It felt like I was stabbed directly in the abdomen, like a hand gripped my heart and pulled violently.

I looked up just in time to see the wolf break past and stared right into the black hole of a mouth it hand before it vanished from my sight.

Rapidly, I turned away, black cloth spinning and flowing in the air from the speed of it. Without missing a beat, I recalled my swords and, once again, I was floored.

My whole body racked with pain and I lost all strength in my limbs, aches subsuming me whole. Pathetically, I laid there on the ground, with my swords nowhere to be seen. Unseen but not unfelt.

Effectively, I was paralysed. The swords were metal, inanimate, but they could feel pain--I could feel their pain. Whenever they were chipped, hit, or melted, I could feel that. And, right that, I was on fire. My whole body lit up in agony, my brain sending contradictory signals that I was and was not on fire. It was all I could do to stare at some part of myself and just look in confusion why there wasn’t a massive hole burning through my flesh, eating up my body.

My whole mind was too overwhelmed to even think logically by this point.

I’m not even sure if I stayed in that spot; it’s highly possible I was moved multiple times. The whole moment after that initial teleportation is fuzzy in my memory, now. I don’t even know how long I was in that hellish state of agony for, wishing I could die but never finding that relief.

But all things must come to an end. Eventually, there was blackness and the world sank into the void. My mind was now solely focused on the pain and nothing more but even that succumbed to the never-ending void.

By the time I finally came to, I was in an unrecognisable room, lying on a bed, and dazed out of my mind. My whole body felt dumb and still ached.

“Took you long enough,” Inquisitor’s voice rang out, pulling my head to the side to see him sitting on a chair. “Don’t worry, we’re still in the Museum. Rainlet managed to kill the heart but we had to drown you in painkillers while we excavated the body,” he continued with a smile.

“The plan-” My voice was hoarse and quiet as I struggled to speak, “Was a success...” I trailed off at the end, feeling enervated.

“We’re thinking the aspect was a regeneration one of some sort,” I didn’t respond.

“But still, a large-intermediate hive that regenerates? They should’ve sent in a larger team.”

“We’re a quick response team,” I managed to get out

“Yeah, because that’s the reason we were alone,” He shot me a wayward glance but there was no hostility in it.

“At least we get paid,” I began to sit up, feeling generally coming back to my body now, though I was still exhausted.

“You’re right; the wolf’s apparently being classed as Fenrir unless you think there’s more to it?”

“No; just fucking humungous.” I chuckled at the end.

Silence permeated the air as neither of us said a word. I was too exhausted to speak while he seemingly had nothing to speak of. Situations like these were frequent amongst us--everyone needs some time to just think and take it all in. It was a particularly dangerous hive for me, yes, but even for the easier ones--though I get so few of them--they take a lot out of you.

“You’re ready to go?” He finally asked after a good few minutes.

“Yeah; let’s go.”